Y’know, a General Manager who lets his hair down and dances is very nice.
But a General Manager who actually manages to speak up and stop the NAC from censoring based on content, and makes sure that longstanding online arts sites get their review tickets, and generally nourishes the same local arts community which nourished him in his youth?
THAT’D BE AWESOME.
Just sayin’, y’know.
Ng Yi-Sheng
Filed under: Uncategorized
Did you know that NAC’s actually giving out cash prizes if you Twitter about their shows?
I didn’t either. But read about it here:
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/eventdetails?action=details&id=21
Just tweet what you think of a show, mentioning @sgartsfest in your review, and you can win prizes. Jeff says not enough people are doing it yet, so you really might win stuff!
Two more rounds: one before midday on 3 June (for the shows of the past week), and another before noon on 10 June (for the shows of that past week.
Oh, this is from the site: “The judges will be looking for critical responses- either positive or constructive- in your observation and reflection about the shows.”
Pfah. That’s no fun then. If only they gave us cash for trashing stuff.
Ng Yi-Sheng
Incidentally, this Sunday I popped down to the Malay Heritage Centre for one of the Arts Fest’s free events, Zapin D’Muara!
I’ve made all these photos bigger so you can click on ‘em and see all the beautiful bling the people are wearing. Btw, the reason why some of the performers in this shot look so munjen is that they’re the zapin team from Hwa Chong Institution.
For the clueless: Zapin is a form of Malay music and dance originally from the Arab world. It’s the fastest of the five varieties of Malay dance.
Let’s not regret the musical bits. These two guys are Syarhrial and Surya Darma (left and right). They’re craftsmen and musicians from Indonesia, who whittle gambus (string instrument shown) and marwas (drum) out of jackfruit wood and goatskin. Here they’re doing an impromptu performance of “Zapin Menjelang Magrib”, which Surya wrote himself – singing starts around 0:35.
And that’s my guide, SAF volunteer Nur Izzah Rafizah. (Damn, think I got part of her name wrong. But get a load of her violet contact lenses. Just look at ‘em.) She was in charge of leading me on this ten-stop zapin trail, in which I was taught how the basics of the dance…
…and the singing… [more after the jump]
Hey Sze, re: your comments on the show, here’s what an unnamed source told me after watching “O Sounds”.
Unnamed Source: All of Kuik Swee Boon’s choreography looks the same.
!!!
Ng Yi-Sheng
